Developing film in traffic, in the woods, on a UHAUL! Meet Kat and Everett, the creative minds behind FridgeFilm

About photographing people in social disadvantage

Something that has been sitting with me since I did this shot: Here is the project I mentioned: Hope in Shadows. You can find their website here [https://megaphonemagazine.com/our-work/hope-in-shadows-calendar/]. It’s such a beautiful and nice project! If you like this post, don’t forget to send to a friend, leave a comment, or subscribe. You can listen directly here, or find the CameraClara podcast on your favorite app: * Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5GihGIkYq8Ohynw82yynw2] * Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cameraclara-podcast/id1793167038] * cameraclara.com/podcast [https://www.cameraclara.com/podcast] Leave a comment below or write to podcast@cameraclara.com [podcast@cameraclara.com]. I’ll read your messages in the next episode. Get full access to Camera Clara at www.cameraclara.com/subscribe [https://www.cameraclara.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Reflections about film and digital: what film asks of you that digital never did...

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Twenty minutes. Just me, close to the microphone, thinking out loud. Podcast episode on air! You can listen directly here, or find the CameraClara podcast on your favorite app: * Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/5GihGIkYq8Ohynw82yynw2] * Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cameraclara-podcast/id1793167038] * cameraclara.com/podcast [https://www.cameraclara.com/podcast] In this episode I talk about the technical and philosophical differences between shooting film and digital. Not in a gear way. More in a mindset way. Why film forces you to read light differently, what the ISO lock teaches you about creative constraints, why the contact sheet is the most honest mirror a photographer can have, and what happens to your thinking when you only have 36 frames left. Leave a comment below or write to podcast@cameraclara.com [podcast@cameraclara.com]. I’ll read your messages in the next episode. It's my first time doing this, so please also let me know what do you think about the overall thing: did I do it right? What would you like to listen? How about the form and structure? And also, subscribe to CameraClara here on Substack, as that helps me a ton! Get full access to Camera Clara at www.cameraclara.com/subscribe [https://www.cameraclara.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Max Adams on shooting for work and shooting for fun

Last week I had Max Adams on the Photography Community Camera Clara livestream/podcast. He runs a YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@maxadams69] with almost 80,000 subscribers (as April 2026, important to say, because it’s growing fast!). Max is known professionally for doing restaurants/food and real estate photography, and on his own time he’s a film photographer like us. We showed up wearing the same hat. We talked for over an hour and covered a lot of ground. Find the full episode in this post’s header. Below, some highlights worth reading even if you watch the whole thing, especially if you are curious to learn if food photographers eat the dishes after photographing (sorry for the clickbait, I have to do it to survive 😂). Shooting for a living Max photographs food on location with one light during operating hours. Cheese goes cold, meat loses its shine, soups stop steaming. He shoots fast. Every time, someone asks who’s eating all the food. “I am,” he says, staring at 15 dishes. I asked if clients request artistic direction. His method: say “I got it” and ignore it. Sensors, shutters, and fake blur He rented the Sony A9 III and showed why global shutters matter. A drone propeller at 1/8000s looks banana-shaped on a regular sensor. On the A9 III, perfectly straight. Every pixel reads at the same instant. The fake depth of field debate came up. Software blur still can’t handle hair, glasses, or the gradual falloff from sharp to blurry. A decade of “it’s just a matter of time.” We’re still waiting. Film, cameras, and strong opinions I shared my Japan mistake: 20 rolls of CineStill 800T, shot temples and snow in Sapporo. Cold and flat. There’s a meme: “If NASA used CineStill 800T,” and there’s a gas station on the moon. Because that’s what we do. Max said, “Can I say something controversial?” and dropped: “I’m not a fan of halation.” Bold move. Let’s all now altogether cancel him on the Internet. 😅 Near the end he casually pulled out a Leica IIIC from 1941. Delivered to the Luftwaffe. 85 years old. It works. We want to do more of these. Go subscribe to Max Adams on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@maxadams]. Almost 80K subscribers and he still responds to everyone. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ Camera Clara is a film photography newsletter. If you're reading this and haven't subscribed yet, you can do that here [https://www.cameraclara.com/subscribe]. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ Get full access to Camera Clara at www.cameraclara.com/subscribe [https://www.cameraclara.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Developing film in traffic, in the woods, on a UHAUL! Meet Kat and Everett, the creative minds behind FridgeFilm

Kat and Everett from FridgeFilm [https://fridgefilm.com/] joined the Camera Clara live stream last week, and it was one of the most fun episodes we’ve done. If you don’t know them yet: they’re two LA-based film photographers who develop film in the most chaotic places imaginable [https://www.instagram.com/p/DPuOTzEEq-I/], film the whole process, edit it with great energy, and post it on YouTube. Think about Spider Man asking for 50 bucks (lmao), a Scientology security guard showing up and challenging them in their matching blue jumpsuits while trying to evangelize the church, chemicals flying inside a UHAUL at 7am (LMAO), red wine as a film developer, camo faces paint in the woods, a bucket melting onto someone’s arm in LA traffic, and much more fun! The content is awesome in the best way, and the technique is actually solid. We talked about temperature tolerance in C-41 (more forgiving than most people think), what happens when developer gets exhausted, and what it actually feels like to invert blix and dev by mistake (I’ve been there). They also dropped some news: a FridgeFilm original film stock is coming soon, with pre-orders opening shortly. Name and box design are still under wraps. Watch their videos on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@fridgefilm] and follow them on Instagram at @fridge.film [https://instagram.com/fridge.film]. I’m already planning a New York collab with rowboats on the Central Park lake. They’re in. YOU don't wanna miss this episode, I guarantee you will have a good time watching it! Get full access to Camera Clara at www.cameraclara.com/subscribe [https://www.cameraclara.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Video tutorial: How to un-delete photos from your SD card

I spent the afternoon on the Staten Island ferry with a full battery and high hopes. The light was perfect coming off the water, Manhattan doing its thing in the background, and I kept shooting. Felt like one of those rare sessions where everything lines up. Got home, pulled the SD card, plugged it in. Nothing. Completely empty. No error message, no corrupted files, just blank. I still have no idea what happened, and at this point I’ve accepted I never will. I think it was my storage USB that corrupted the SD card filesytem or so. I also had the Mamiya 7ii with me for medium format shots. Those rolls are safe, sitting on my bathroom drying from development. I’ll post the results once they’re scanned and converted. Before starting the recovery process, I turned the camera on and recorded this tutorial, because you might need it one day. If you would like any help with this, please consider being a paid subscriber to Camera Clara, and I would be more than happy to help you out. Rescued photos All taken with the Leica M10-R and a 50mm f/1.4 Summilux. Imagine losing these… Get full access to Camera Clara at www.cameraclara.com/subscribe [https://www.cameraclara.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]